st. Paul, minn. - just add two more heartbreakers to the season ledger as concordia university (7-14) dropped two games today at barnes field to minnesota duluth (10-8) by a total of three runs. In both games, umd broke tie scores in the 7th inning to extend their winning streak to six games while pushing concordia's losing streak to the same number. Concordia left fielder blake devries (eden prairie, minn.) hit for the cycle in the series, going 4-4 with a homer and four rbi in game one before adding a triple in his first at bat of game two. Junior centerfielder jon stockton's (oakdale, minn.) first career home run was a grand slam in game two in his 237th career at bat. The grand slam helped concordia gain an 8-4 lead heading into the sixth inning before dropping the game at the end. game 1 box - game 2 box
game 1: minnesota duluth 10, cu 8
umd had the upper hand throughout, scoring the first four runs in the second inning. Concordia responded with three in the bottom of the inning and two more came around in the third as devries scorched a two run double to right center to give the golden bears a 5-4 lead.
but everytime the golden bears scored, so did the bulldogs as they tied the game in the fourth and reclaimed a 6-5 lead in the top of the fifth, only to surrender devries' fourth home run of the season in the bottom of the inning to tie the score at six.
in the sixth, umd scored another pair of runs, putting the pressure back on the home team. Concordia responded, scoring a pair of two out runs on a ben lemke (so., rosemount, minn.) rbi groundout and a devries rbi single.
the score knotted once again at 8-8, umd churned out two more runs off junior right hander nick anderson (plymouth, minn.) as he took the loss falling to 2-3 on the season. Anderson had been unhittable in the late innings in his first 10 appearances. But today, he allowed two runs each in the sixth and seventh innings and would also be hit with the loss in game two as his season record drops to 2-4.
concordia left 10 runners on base in the game, a disturbing trend that has led to close losses throughout the season. They left runners on 2nd and 3rd in the second inning, a runner on 2nd in the third, a runner on 2nd in the fourth, 2nd and 3rd in the fifth and 1st and 2nd in the sixth inning. Most of those situations came with less than two outs as well.
in the first game, concordia tallied 11 hits and drew five walks with junior catcher sam fagely (mahtomedi, minn.) joining devries with a multi-hit game by going 2-3, scoring a run, driving one in and drawing a walk as well. Lemke scored twice and drove in a run despite being one of two batters to not record a hit. He drew a pair of walks while showing exceptional plate discipline and would add two hits and a walk in the second game.
umd, meanwhile, has done their damage all season without the long ball or even extra base hits. Today was no different as 10 of their 13 hits were singles, they drew six walks and a hit by pitch and stole four bases. They also left their share of runners on, with nine total and five in scoring position along with two runners being caught stealing on excellent throws from s.fagely.
the meat of umd's order did the damage, though, as the second through sixth hitters combined to go 10-22 with six of their team's eight rbi.
eric hummel earned the win in relief, striking out his only batter while josh foreman picked up his second save of the year.
both teams used four pitchers in the game as lemke started and threw an inning with sophomore chris peterson (rhp, st. Anthony, minn.) working the second inning. Sophomore ty hall (lhp, spring lake park, minn.) pitched the middle three innings and was effective, allowing two runs on four hits with a pair of strikeouts and left the game in a tie score at six.
game 2: minnesota duluth 10, cu 9
as the sun was rapidly setting and darkness was becoming an issue, the golden bears rallied. Trailing 10-9 heading into what could have been the game's final inning regardless of score, concordia sophomore bryan lippincott (des moines, iowa) led off by lacing a double down the right field line, a ground rule double as it skipped into the bullpen otherwise would have certainly been a triple.
freshman j.t. Schneider (oak creek, wis.) followed by dropping down a sacrifice bunt with umd relief pitcher adam cook spinning in a full circle before an ill advised throw to third was too late to catch lippincott sliding in. Schneider reached safely on the fielder's choice sacrifice bunt and would steal second to give cu runners on 2nd and 3rd for senior slugger brenden furrow (johnston, iowa). Furrow was given a free pass after the schneider steal, setting up a bases loaded, no outs situation.
sophomore logan bouts (hopkins, minn.) delivered a sharp grounder to first, with the infield in umd first baseman anders engberg dove quickly to his right, popped up and fired home for the out. Bouts hustled on the play and was able to leg out the attempted double play, preserving a bases loaded situation with just one out. But cook settled in and possibly used the darkening conditions to his advantage as he struck out the next two batters swinging to get his first save.
game two started with umd leading 2-1 after two innings and they extended the lead to 3-1 heading into the bottom of the third.
concordia had already left the bases loaded in the second and had a bases loaded, two out situation when stockton hit the first pitch over the right field fence, drilling the radio station's west side wall on the fly. The grand slam lifted concordia to a 6-3 lead and a was a huge momentum boost for a club that was in dire need of a big inning.
but they left the bases loaded again in the fourth, left runners on 1st and 3rd in the fifth, had a runner caught stealing at third in the sixth on a wild pitch and left the bases full again in the seventh. It all added up to 12 left on base, 22 for the doubleheader while umd left 17 on in the two games. That difference of five lob was greater than the three run margin of defeat for concordia.
the golden bears rode freshman left hander patrick rydeen (stillwater, minn.) deep into the game as the southpaw was efficient, pounding the outside part of the zone for umd's right handed batters all day. He threw nearly three-quarters of his pitches for strikes and struck out six batters in his longest career start. His final line did not reflect how well he pitched in his third career start. He surrendered nine total runs on 14 hits, but only two of those 14 hits were for extra bases (both doubles) and many of them were seeing eye singles through the infield holes.
he was also not helped by defensive miscues behind him, and while cu committed two errors, there were other plays that were not made in addition that led to runs.
after letting their 8-4 lead after five innings slip away as the bulldogs plated five runs in the sixth, concordia rallied to tie the game at nine in the bottom of the sixth. Lemke delivered a sharp opposite field double down the left field line and scored on a wild pitch later in the inning. Lemke went 2-4 with two runs and a walk in the second game and the double was his first of the season.
lippincott also had a pair of doubles in the game, giving him a team-high 10 on the season as he went 2-5 and is hitting .354. He also stole his seventh base of the year in as many chances while schneider also stole a base giving him five on the year.
mark shaver earned the win for umd, evening his record at 1-1. The seven inning game last 2:40, featured five umd pitchers and two cu pitchers who combined to throw nearly 300 pitches.
concordia has now had 18 of their 21 games decided by four runs or less including 11 1-run games and three 2-run games.
today's doubleheader was a non-conference meeting between the two nsic squads. They'll play again next tuesday, march 30 in duluth. Concordia will play a non-conference doubleheader at metrodome this saturday at 5:30 p.m. Against uw-la crosse.
